Special Report: The Future of Lighting

As incandescent light bulbs fade from use, LEDs and compact fluorescents vie to replace them

The venerable incandescent lightbulb is on its way out, thanks to a revolution in lighting technology. IEEE Spectrum has chronicled the rise of compact fluorescent bulbs and LEDs, as engineers have struggled to improve on Edison’s original invention
MULTIMEDIA
Leaving the Lights On DECEMBER 2010 AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Take a tour through a testing center that studies CFLs, LEDs, and human health		Last Hurrah for Banned Bulbs NOVEMBER 2010 AUDIO SLIDE SHOW: A little shop in New York City celebrates the glory of the lightbulb in the waning days of incandescence
Maker Faire 2008: Smart LEDs AUGUST 2008 VIDEO: These little RGB LEDs each have their own microcontroller for complete control		Everything is Illuminated FEBRUARY 2008 SLIDESHOW: United Visual Artists is a London-based group of engineers, artists, and designers who create technologically sophisticated light displays
FEATURES
Requiem for the Incandescent Lightbulb APRIL 2010 A look back at a century of light Deutschland Devours the Last of Its 100-Watt Incandescent Bulbs OCTOBER 2009 Reports of hoarding on eve of European ban on some incandescents		Empire Off the Grid AUGUST 2009 Dean Kamen is turning his private island into a proof of concept for zero-net energy     The LED's Dark Secret AUGUST 2009 Solid-state lighting won’t supplant the lightbulb until it can overcome the mysterious malady known as “droop”     A Rock Show Gets the LED Out JANUARY 2009 Stadium acts like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead are trading pyrotechnics and JumboTrons for LEDs and software     Light from Silicon OCTOBER 2005 For decades, silicon was a semiconducting dim bulb, but now we can make it into LEDs that match the best made from more exotic materials     Lighting Up the Andes DECEMBER 2004 A Canadian couple is lighting up remote villages in Bolivia using white LEDs, solar panels, and a little help from their friends     Let There Be Light SEPTEMBER 2002 And let it come from cool, clear semiconductors rather than fragile, white-hot filaments
THE ILLUMINATA
Jim Benya: The Illuminator FEBRUARY 2006 Jim Benya found his niche as a cutting-edge lighting designer by following his environmentalist conscience		Ash Nehru: Everything Is Illuminated FEBRUARY 2008 Ash Nehru writes software code that drives intricate interactive lighting displays, redefining the way people view art     Tales of Nakamura MAY 2007 Bright lights, piles of cash, courtroom drama, and a lone inventor     Fritz Morgan: LEDs Into Gold FEBRUARY 2005 When a Broadway show or an office building in Hong Kong needs a dazzling light display, who ya gonna call?
MORE STORIES
Organic LEDs Head to the Racetrack JUNE 2010 BLOG POST: One car in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, in France, will be sporting a new kind of sponsor logo     Let There Be (a New Kind of) Light JULY 2007 ARTICLE: Organic LEDs seem set to transform the business of bulbs     Quantum Dots Enhance LED Lighting DECEMBER 2009 ARTICLE: Tiny semiconductor crystals could produce better colors for lighting and computer displays     LEDs Could Borrow From Beetles JUNE 2007 ARTICLE: The whitest white in nature belongs to an insect, and it has lessons for lighting     The Future’s So Bright AUGUST 2009 ARTICLE: A flashlight made from high-output LEDs is not for the fainthearted     Butterfly Effect FEBRUARY 2006 ARTICLE: Sophisticated method of manipulating light is discovered in Princeps nireus     Cheaper LEDs Possible by Growing Gallium Nitride on Silicon AUGUST 2008 ARTICLE: Engineers take a step toward cheaper solid-state lighting     A Better Light Bulb? FEBRUARY 2005 ARTICLE: A titanium dioxide coating gives this lightbulb the power to eat germs and odors     Selling Lighting by the Metric Ton of Carbon AUGUST 2007 ARTICLE: LED lighting outfit thinks builders will be turned on by greenhouse-gas reduction more than by wattage savings